What a lot to digest...I think it will take the inevitable discussion on this thread to get to grips with the potential impact of the proposals.

The payback system has been rather static for a long time...in fact the only major change in 5 1/2 years was to move from 'floating bands' which were manually calculated depdent on overall activity during the month across the whole forum and the current system of 'set bands' with a secret calculation to band across the forum (although I do recall that calculation has been tweaked various times).

I do agree that some members spend far more time and effort than others and yet have the current £30 ceiling of band 1 - and that shouldn't be the case. There has been the ever present problem of posting for the sake of posting and poor copy and paste answers which the current system can't filter out properly either and hopefully a adjustment to the forumula would help people think before they posted.

What I'm not sure is how the changes would initially change people's approach to posting. If best answers are directly rewarded will more people move to 'catch all' copy and paste answers in the hope that they get chosen as best answer or get a unique kudos? Or will they heed the fact it's a ratio of posts to best answers? What is the scope for tweaking the new forumla if it doesn't seem to be quite hitting the design because people change their habits? How can you determine who is a 'good member' in Help when many queries come from members who are visiting the forum for the first time and won't return until they have another issue?

Will contributing to Ideas be across Contribute and Ideas? Or will Contributing to community as a whole be where the Contribute board lies?

Sounds good! I like that it seems more transparent...not as mysterious as the current system.

Unfortunately I'm not so active on the community as I used to be so probably won't really notice the changes. Are there any plans for changes to the recruiting side of payback?

Hannah

In April 2016, I'm running the Plymouth Half Marathon to raise money for Breast Cancer Now, a charity that works to develop treatments and eventually find a cure for this terrible disease. I would be extremely grateful for any support to help me raise as much as I can: justgiving

Phew,that was a lot to read and digest but after going through it all a couple of times I like this new system a lot.

New member payback,what's not to like about that?Anything that encourages new users to become productive members of the community can only be a good thing.

Basic payback,the new lower value system should discourage those who think they've only got to turn up to earn a few pounds while still giving them the option to earn more if they want to get more involved in more areas of the community.

Enhanced payback will reward those real superstars that we have who really do go the extra mile to help others and the posts to best answers ratio will discourage those who use the shotgun approach of just firing a copy and pasted answer at every question that's posted in Help that may or may not vaguely relate to the question asked because their post to best answer ratio will drop below the required rate,plus the enhanced payback will also reward those who beaver away to make giffgaff as a whole a better place via the ideas board and here in contribute for instance.

Just one question,will those of us that help out at Facebook and Twitter be eligible for enhanced payback for our efforts there or as present will that be part of the "odds and ends" that are awarded?

Lastly,kudos just for using the term "payback parrots",little did I know when I first coined it several years ago now that it would become part of our everyday language.

I like the layered approach as it's flexible and allows for unfamiliarity and gives members the chance to learn. I also like the fact that there isn't a £30 ceiling point, it is true that some members definitely deserve more than that.

I'm intrigued by the reputable member status (how this is determined) and look forward to seeing how this pans out

Many thanks for your efforts in putting all this together for our consumption.

It's a lot to take in and I know that I wil have questions or positive criticisms once I have had a chance to digest all the information.

One thing that I noticed though following my initial glance at the proposals and that involves the Layer 2 - Basic Payback section:

Layer 2 - Basic Payback

When members have been active on the community for longer than a month they will be eligible for basic payback, which is similar to the current payback but has a lower cap of £15 and runs off more reliable numbers, such as kudos from reputable members.

You stated "kudos from reputable members."

How are reputable members determined? What is the definition of a reputable member and what criteria are used to qualify a member as such?

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